Movie review: 'Green Lantern' light on substance

Friday

Jun 17, 2011 at 12:01 AMJun 17, 2011 at 5:15 PM

Based on its track record, Hollywood should stop giving the green light to green superheroes. “The Incredible Hulk” was far from incredible. “The Green Hornet” had little buzz, and “The Green Lantern,” the latest addition to the comic book film canon, emits all the brightness of a 10-watt lightbulb.

Bob Tremblay

Based on its track record, Hollywood should stop giving the green light to green superheroes. “The Incredible Hulk” was far from incredible. “The Green Hornet” had little buzz, and “The Green Lantern,” the latest addition to the comic book film canon, emits all the brightness of a 10-watt lightbulb.

You know a film is in trouble when it takes four, count ’em four, screenwriters to pen a script about a guy who gets his power from a ring. “Green Lantern” certainly has that too-many-cooks feel and the result is a disjointed concoction.

These days, a superhero typically comes in two flavors: the tortured variety, best exemplified in the “Batman” movies, and the flippant variety, best exemplified in the “Iron Man” films. “Green Lantern” tries to have it both ways.

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), a cocky test pilot, is nevertheless haunted by the horrific death of his father just as Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) is haunted by the murder of his parents. Both traumas were experienced when the future superheroes were children. Where the tragedy helped shape Bruce’s psyche, Hal deflects his pain with a devil-may-care attitude. He’s a good ol’ boy who risks his life to prove he can beat a high-tech jet and then in social situations displays a hazardous lack of responsibility.

Hal’s life gets turned around when he’s chosen to be a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic peacekeeping force that gets its power from a green ring. The bauble gives its wearer the ability to deal with such matters as evil blobs through force of will. Whatever the imagination can think of becomes reality. You would think this concept would be ideal for today’s computer-generated pyrotechnics, but the results here underwhelm when they should wow. The 3-D feature, once again, fails to add anything to the mix. The movie can be seen in 2-D, too. Yippee!

“Green Lantern” doesn’t make good use of Reynolds, either, though it does give him plenty of opportunities to bare his manly chest. He is a certified hunk, but his roguishness gets put under wraps here. Much more could have been done, for example, with his adjustment to his new powers. This would not only have made him more sympathetic but would have amped up the film’s humor quotient. Reynolds has comic chops. Give him a chance to use them.

As Carol Ferris, Hal’s love interest, Blake Lively is anything but. She talks tough, yet spends most of her time as a damsel in distress. She does help out Hal in one scene.

One actor who does get to strut his stuff is Peter Saarsgard as Dr. Hector Hammond, who becomes infected with alien blood and gets deformed, empowered and very vengeful. He’s a nasty villain, but his villainy detracts from the main bad guy, Parallax, a gelatinous meanie who feeds on the power of fear and has set his sights on destroying Earth. He doesn’t want to be a BFF with Hal, either.

Another flaw in the film centers around Hector, who apparently had a friendship with Carol and Hal, but this is never fully developed so that when bad things happen we don’t care enough. As with most mediocre action flicks, special effects take precedence over character development.

Now you may also wonder how a human who just acquired a ring would be better equipped to battle Parallax than the more advanced Green Corps members with years of ring-power experience. The film offers a lame explanation. All you need to know is that we humans have nothing to fear but fear itself. And you can quote me.

It’s surprising that “Green Lantern” is so lackluster considering its director, Martin Campbell, also helmed the Bond films “Casino Royale” and “GoldenEye.” Dare we reiterate the importance of the script? All the fanboys should be happy, though, as “Green Lantern” sets up the possibility of a sequel. Now, there’s a shock. Think it might involve a pointy-eared character named Sinestro (Mark Strong)? A sequel can be avoided if the public stays away from the initial offering. And that’s about as likely as the Bruins winning the Stanley Cup. Wait!

Affiliated Delaware Papers

Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.
Hockessin Community News ~ 24 W. Main St., Middletown, DE 19709 ~ Privacy Policy ~ Terms Of Service